472 BROWN ON NOURSOAK PENINSULA, &C. 



places where a peaty soil has accumulated, the Arctic Birch 

 {Betula nana), Willow {Salix, various species), Andromeda, 

 Vaccinium, or^ Crowberry {Einpetruni) creep in such unwonted 

 profusion that in the height of summer some more favoured spots 

 seem almost to support the florid title which Erik Ranthri gave to 

 the country he was the first European to land on. Everywhere 

 the dreary marks of present or former ice-action are apparent. 



The first exposure of trap-rock noticed was at Akpaet (Riten- 

 benk, Lat. 69"" 45' 34 N., Long. 51° 7' W.), appearing also on 

 Arve-Prince Island. Such Tertiary igneous rocks continue as far 

 as 76° N. Lat. To the south older traps are known to exist. 



At Atanekerdluk,* on the north coast of the Waigatjf the shore 

 consists of a strip of sandy beach, backed by lofty trap cliffs, 

 sloped and ravined, from 3,000 to 4,000 feet high, and traversed 

 with white streaks of Miocene beds. The chief locality for fossils 

 here is on the side of a hill,J about 1,154 feet above the sea, mostly 

 in fragments of hard ferruginous shale, resisting disintegration 

 better than the associated shales and sandstones.§ 



Dr. Brown, ascending the ravine of the Ekadluk stream, made 

 the following section (p. 21) : — 



Section along the Course of the Stream at Atanekerdluk : General 

 Strike of the Strata E.N.E., Dip as noted. 



1. 6 feet (?) : sandstone, dip 32° (concealed by debris, and 

 probably resting on trap). 



2. Shaly coal (?), 10 inches. 



3. Seam of llgnitic coal, 14 inches. 



4. Shale with faint vegetable impressions, 16 inches. 



5. Hard clayey shale, broken into splintery angular pieces, 10 

 inches. 



6. 20 feet: black shale, faint vegetable impressions. 



* Esquimaux : " Rocks in the Sea " ; basalt rocks forming a skerry off 

 the shore. 



f Waygatz of the old Dutch ; Waigattet of the Danes ; Ikarcseksoak of 

 the natives. 



X The most northern of three peaks overlooking the bay. — Whymper, 

 " Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1869," p. 3. 



§ A trench cut hei-e, apparently in the talus of the hillside, gave the 

 following section to Mr. E. Whymper, " Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1869," p. 4: — 



1. Light grey fine sand - 1 foot 7 inches. 



2. Grey fine sand - - 8 inches. 



3. White fine sand - - 8 inches. 



4. Grey fine sand - - 9 inches, 



5. White fine sand - - 6 inches. 

 G. Yellow sand (not penetrated). 



The plant -impressions were found in pieces of hard red clay in the uppermost 

 bed or on the surface ; and also from beds 2, 3, and 4, in softer and more 

 brittle shales, and in lumps of hard iron-grey clay. 



Mr. E. Whymper's Report on the Geology of this locality is given in the 

 " Brit. Assoc. Report" for 1869, p. 1, &c., and, with Notes by Dr. R. Brown, 

 in Prof. Heer's Memoir on the fossil plants from Greenland in the ** Phil. 

 Trans." for 1869, p. 446, &c. See also Nordenskj old's Memoir, above, p. 432. 

 — Editor. 



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